Tom Knott: Danica Patrick plays her own sexist game

Danica Patrick has a habit of getting into the face of other IndyCar Series drivers only to be granted a pass because of her face and femininity.

Patrick likes to provide driver’s education tips to the rest of the field, which is not always taken in the proper spirit.

Patrick was looking to help Milka Duno in Lexington, Ohio, last weekend after being unable to pass her during a practice run.

Patrick wanted to know if Duno was too busy applying eyeliner to notice that someone was trying to leave her jalopy in the exhaust fumes.

Patrick emphasized the point with profanity, which is straight out of Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

Not surprisingly, Duno took exception to the questioning and threw a towel in Patrick’s face.

Fortunately, Patrick did not have a towel in her possession or the confrontation could have deteriorated into one of the great towel-offs in sports history.

Instead, Patrick let Duno know what she thought of her steering technique in language that would make truckers blush.

Oddly enough, Patrick claimed she was a victim of her popularity, which apparently is an awful burden to shoulder.

“Unfortunately, things involving me tend to evolve,” she told the Indianapolis Star. “I’m on the hot seat when I do something and when others do something. It’s kind of the line that I walk because I’m popular.”

It is too bad that Patrick suffers indignities because of her popularity.

But it could be worse.

She could be just another anonymous male IndyCar Series driver looking to score enough victories to be relevant.

That is the benefit of being a pretty face in a billboard doubling as a uniform.

Patrick possibly could help her cause with improved interpersonal skills, shocking as that notion may be to her.

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